Adam Taggart leads Brisbane Roar to first win of the season vs. Melbourne City

Brisbane claimed their first A-League win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Melbourne City, in a game that was a tale of two strikers.

Brisbane's Adam Taggart scored a brace for the Roar, but City star Bruno Fornaroli was nowhere to be seen at Suncorp Stadium after surprisingly being omitted by coach Warren Joyce.

The Uruguayan's absence dominated discussions before, during and after the defeat where City had the lion's share of possession but were largely toothless in attack.

Rumours were rampant Fornaroli had been dropped due to a fitness issue, with leading player agent John Grimaud taking to Twitter to praise City for "making a tough decision on a player thinking he is above the team."

Joyce said Fornaroli's absence wasn't sinister, just a case of a coach picking what he believes is the best team for the match.

"You just look at the opposition, you look at us training, you evaluate everything and you pick a team to win a game, that's it," Joyce said.

The City coach was more annoyed with the A-League's decision to appoint Japanese referee Ryuji Sato for the match.

He said confusion over whether the VAR system was reviewing a penalty shout against Roar defender Avram Papadopoulos led to the home team's first goal.

City reacted slowly to a short corner, with Taggart nodding home Eric Bautheac's whipped delivery to give the Roar their first lead in a match this season.

"We would told they were looking at the VAR and then it wasn't even reviewed," Joyce said.

"It's our own fault. I thought we lacked a little bit of concentration. You're waiting at the corner at the other end thinking that the VAR's getting reviewed and we switched off and we conceded a poor goal."

City bounced back well and the impressive Lachlan Wales had an effort deflected onto the outside of the post just after half-time.

But with less than 30 minutes remaining, Brisbane sealed the win when Taggart worked his way into space inside the penalty area after good build-up by Alex Lopez and Tobias Mikkelsen before firing home with his right foot.

It means Taggart has five goals in five A-League appearances for the Roar following his off-season move from Perth.

"He's a goal scorer, we know that," Roar coach John Aloisi said.

"I still think that he's got a lot left in him. He's still getting used to his teammates around him and he's going to score a lot of goals for us."

The Roar travel to in-form Adelaide next weekend while City host Newcastle.